National Kidney Foundation Honors Yale Doctor with Top Award

New York, NY—April 3, 2018 — Alan S. Kliger, M.D., has been selected by the National Kidney Foundation as the recipient of the foundation’s 2018 J. Michael Lazarus Distinguished Lecture.

Dr. Kliger is a clinical professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and also serves as vice president and medical director of clinical integration at Yale New Haven Health System. Dr. Kliger is nationally recognized for his clinical expertise in kidney function and care, and for his commitment to patient safety and to improving quality of care.

“Dr. Kliger’s tremendous contributions to kidney research and to improving the care and treatment of patients with kidney disease — centered on patient safety and quality of life — makes him an obvious choice who is richly deserving of this award,” said Michael Choi, M.D., president and chair of the NKF Scientific Advisory Board.

This award was established to honor Dr. J. Michael Lazarus for his major contributions to the clinical science and care of dialysis patients, and to recognize individuals whose research has yielded novel insights related to renal replacement therapy. The award will be presented to Dr. Kliger during the NKF 2018 Annual Spring Meetings to be held April 10-14, in Austin, Texas. On Friday, April 13, Dr. Kliger will be presenting the Lazarus lecture on “Quality and Safety in Dialysis: Emphasis on Achieving Zero Preventable Infections”.

“What a fantastic honor to receive this award,” said Dr. Kliger. “Dr. Lazarus pioneered patient-centered care, starting with his groundbreaking work treating patients in the first outpatient clinic. I plan to continue in this tradition, empowering patients to be leaders in their own caretaking.”

Dr. Kliger is a member of the Standing Renal Committee for the National Quality Forum, and chairs the Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety initiative, a national partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Society of Nephrology. Dr. Kliger served formerly as senior vice president of medical affairs and chief quality officer at Yale New Haven Health System, and as senior vice president and chief medical officer at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Conn. He is a past president of the Renal Physicians Association, and serves on its Quality, Safety and Accountability Committee, and is also a past president of the Forum of End Stage Renal Disease Networks.

Dr. Kliger also served as chair of the steering committee for the National Institutes of Health Frequent Hemodialysis Study, a national prospective randomized study of in-center daily and home nocturnal hemodialysis, and currently chairs the steering committee for a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Consortium on Novel Therapies for Hemodialysis Patients.

NKF Spring Clinical Meetings

For the past 27 years, nephrology healthcare professionals from across the country have come to NKF’s Spring Clinical Meetings to learn about the newest developments related to all aspects of nephrology practice; network with colleagues; and present their research findings. The NKF Spring Clinical Meetings are designed for meaningful change in the multidisciplinary healthcare teams’ skills, performance, and patient health outcomes. It is the only conference of its kind that focuses on translating science into practice for the entire healthcare team.

Kidney Disease Facts

Thirty million American adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease — and most aren’t aware of it. One in three American adults are at risk for chronic kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and family history. People of African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. African Americans are three times more likely than whites, and Hispanics are nearly 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanics to develop end stage renal disease (kidney failure).

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive and longstanding organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention and treatment of kidney disease. For more information about NKF visit www.kidney.org.